Jason Segel, Brett Benner, Debby Romano On ‘Shrinking’ Casting

Dec 29, 2023

In setting out to make Shrinking, Jason Segel knew that casting would be "the all-important thing" — that if an ensemble with the right chemistry couldn't be assembled, the show just wouldn't work.

"This is a show where, while there are some big plot moves, it's not a patient of the week," Segel notes in conversation with casting directors Debby Romano, CSA and Brett Benner, CSA in today's edition of The Process. "We’re really following relationships, and subtle changes in dynamics and chemistry between the different characters, so we had to cast the hell out of this thing for it to work. And that's where you guys, I think, really, really nailed it."

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To Benner, who shares an Artios Award and three Emmy nominations with Romano, one of the biggest challenges on any new series is the notion starting out that you’re working in the dark, attempting to bring together the right team while still coming to grips with the nuances of the story being told. "Especially in the context of a pilot, or like for this, a first-year series that no one has seen yet…you’re really working in a vacuum and actors are effectively working into a vacuum about, how are they going in, and what are they going in for?" the casting director tells Segel. "Tone is such a major part of it, and especially with comedy, of what line everybody is trying to establish, and how far and how broad it could potentially go."Created by Segel and the Ted Lasso duo of Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, Shrinking is an Apple TV+ comedy that follows Segel's grieving therapist Jimmy as he starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people's lives … including his own.

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Another nerve-wracking element of bringing the show together was the fact that with one key role, Romano and Benner would simply have to wait and hope for the best. This was of course the role of Jimmy's curmudgeonly colleague with a heart of gold, Dr. Paul Rhoades, which would ultimately go to the offer-only icon Harrison Ford. Did Shrinking‘s casting directors think they really stood a chance of landing Ford, who over the course of his nearly 60-year screen career had rarely worked in television, and never as a series regular? "No. Who ever would?" admits Romano. "Come on, it's Harrison Ford."

Romano recalls Lawrence telling her, of reeling in Ford, "It's going to take a while. I don't even know where he is, so we’re going to need some time. We should maybe have some backup choices."

Thankfully, she continues, Ford "wanted to do it, and all the power to him. He took that ball and ran for the touchdown. Obviously, there were other components — Brett Goldstein going to dinner with him, and [Jason] meeting with him, and all of that. But oh my goodness, that was a dream come true."

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Partners in business for the last 23 years, Romano and Benner came to Shrinking after working with Lawrence on his beloved NBC series Scrubs, finding in this new project an opportunity to make amends to an actor for a casting call on the famed medical sitcom. The actor, who would play Jimmy's neighbor Derek, was Ted McGinley — one who almost landed the iconic Scrubs role of the loveable crank Dr. Cox.

"We kind of called Bill and said, ‘This is the thing. We owe Ted McGinley this role, because he came this close to being Dr. Cox on Scrubs,'" Romano recalls. "Literally, when we went into the network, we had John McGinley, we had Ted McGinley. We thought we were going to walk out with Ted McGinley, and we walked out with John. And it was all great and for the right reason. But poor Ted."

Later on, Romano continues, she and Benner took on a Fox series called Surviving Jack and made an offer for a lead role to Chris Meloni, who passed. "Then, we started to read everyone who was right, and Ted came in and slayed, and he came back as many times as he needed to. And then Chris Meloni circled back, and they wanted a name. So, we ended up casting Chris Meloni," she explains. "And with this, we just called Bill and said, ‘We owe him and he would be perfect. He’d be amazing with Christa [Miller]. Can we please do this?’ It took like a week. I think there were a bunch of discussions, understandably so. And thank God [he landed the part] because he's so great."

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"Talk about a scene-stealer," says Segel. "He is like a comedy assassin. He comes in with like two or three lines in a scene and your job is to kill them, and he does it every time."

With a number of their key puzzle pieces for their Shrinking ensemble in place, Romano and Benner were able to turn their attention to the process of discovery that is the bulk of the work in casting. In conversation with Segel, the pair highlighted Luke Tennie (who plays Jimmy's fiery but secretly sensitive patient, Sean) and Lukita Maxwell (who plays his daughter Alice) as actors they were particularly pleased to be able to bring into the fold.

As far as film and TV projects go, Segel says, Shrinking has been "one of the dreamy ones." And Romano and Benner would have to agree. "I have to be honest, Brett and I have never been on a show that has had that upswell of support that comes from your family and friends that you sort of expect, and then beyond," says Romano. "And oh my goodness, it is the greatest ride, and it's such an honor to work on it."

Shrinking premiered to critical acclaim in January and secured a Season 2 renewal shortly thereafter. In conversation with Segel on The Process, the show's casting directors give a comprehensive breakdown of their thinking and process in casting Maxwell and Tennie, as well as Jessica Williams as Jimmy's friend and colleague Gaby; Michael Urie as his best friend, Brian; and Miller as Jimmy's neighbor and Derek's wife, Liz.

The casting directors also discuss Benner's work as an actor prior to getting into casting and Romano's time working on the iconic series Melrose Place; their experience with Lawrence on Scrubs; casting as "alchemy" driven to some extent by "luck"; working through moments when collaborators haven't understood or agreed with their pick for a part; how the relationship they share is the closest they have outside of family, given their decades of collaboration; and more.

Topics touched on by Segel include struggles and frustrations with auditioning early in his career, and the vulnerability that comes with that process, as well as how his personal experiences in that arena have informed his process in working with actors as a series creator. He also gets into how casting director Deborah Aquila and Freaks and Geeks‘ Judd Apatow changed his life, what he needed to see in Shrinking to say yes to starring in a new TV comedy after his long run with How I Met Your Mother, Ford's deadpan text to Lawrence after watching Segel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the joy in providing a platform for up-and-coming actors to shine, Tennie's presence as a performer and ability "to bob and weave," finding immediate chemistry with Jessica Williams in their first read together, and coming to grips with the fact that he's now playing the TV dad.

View the full conversation between Segel, Benner and Romano above.

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